Computer course offers innovative style of learning

Students to offer feedback on Harvard-level online computer science course integrated into their classroom study

Cincinnati Country Day School science and engineering teacher Marcus Twyford displays a program that is part of his Introduction to Computer Science course which integrates online study into the classroom curriculum.(Photo: Forrest Sellers/The Community Press)

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Students to offer feedback on Harvard-level computer science course integrated into classroom study

Cincinnati Country Day School students may have an impact on a new online computer course.

Cincinnati Country Day is among more than 40 schools that will provide feedback on an online computer science course being developed by Harvard University.

Cincinnati Country Day computer science and engineering teacher Marcus Twyford has integrated the online course with his traditional curriculum to create a new type of learning experience.

“I wanted to make computer science accessible to more students,” Twyford said.

Harvard has offered this online computer course called CS50 for a number of years. However, another online course is being developed for 2016/2017 that is an extension of the current one.

Cincinnati Country Day students have gotten an opportunity to sample this online course and what Twyford calls “a very dynamic style of teaching.”

Twyford and other school representatives were invited to a “boot camp” at Harvard during the summer where they had an opportunity to explore what the new course will offer.

“It’s unique in the sense that it’s part of a national pilot,” Twyford said. “The students are doing university level work.”

The online course is led by Harvard University computer science instructor David Malan.

“(Malan) is good at presenting abstract ideas in a more concrete way,” said senior David Yang, who is among the 10 students taking Twyford’s course. “I feel very motivated after the online lecture on what you’ll achieve.”

Yang said an advantage of taking an online course is that it provides an opportunity for interaction via social media.

“You get to chat with people all over the world,” Yang said. “There is a lot of online communication.”

Twyford said in recent years a “groundswell” of interest has developed for computer science learning.

He said the classroom setting offers a chance for a more individualized approach than if the students just took the course by themselves.

He said the pace is modified by the specific needs of the individual students.

The course at Cincinnati Country Day School which has been integrated with the online course is called Introduction to Computer Science. Twyford started the course in January.

“The students have reacted very positively to this,” Twyford said. “I think it’s a big leap.”